Maffei I is a recent
discovery, being highly obscured and reddened by interstellar
dust in the Milky Way in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Almost
impossible to see visually, this unusual object would be as bright
as the Andromeda Galaxy if it were not for the intervening dust.
Since there were very few color shots of this object, I decided
to photograph it and record its tawny hues. Although rated at
11.4 magnitude, I was not able to see it in the scope prior to
shooting it. The core is 2 arcminutes long, and the classification
is SO Peculiar probably from the dust patch you can see on its
right side.